Rip Current in Guam, January 20 to 21, 2014

Name: Rip Current in Guam, January 20 to 21, 2014
Start: 2014-01-20T00:00
End: 2014-01-21T00:00
Location: Guam

January 20 to 21, 2014 · NWS GUM · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong storms over the Northwest Pacific continued to create hazardous surf and strong rip currents across the Marianas.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GUM wrote it up.

Strong storms over the Northwest Pacific continued to create hazardous surf and strong rip currents across the Marianas.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Guam wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 7:28 AM UTC, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 19, 7:28 AM UTC, 6 hours 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TIYAN GU
528 PM CHST SUN JAN 19 2014

.MARIANAS SYNOPSIS...
SATELLITE SHOW CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH A COLD FRONT/SHEAR LINE JUST
TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE MARIANA FORECAST ZONES ARE DRIFTING TOWARD
SOUTHEAST WHILE ONLY PATCHY CLOUDS ARE UPSTREAM EASTWARD. A TRADE-
WIND DISTURBANCE CENTERED NEAR 8N152E IS PRODUCING WELCOME SHOWERS
ACROSS NORTHERN CHUUK STATE AND IS DRIFTING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST.
LOCAL BUOYS SHOW COMBINED SEAS 5 TO 6 FEET WITH DIRECTIONS SPREAD
FROM NW THROUGH NE.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
THE WEATHER ACROSS THE MARIANAS WILL BECOME COMPLICATED AS THIS WEEK
PROGRESSES. DRY TRADE WINDS PERSIST ACROSS OUR AREA TODAY...BUT THE
WINDS AND CLOUDS WILL INCREASE DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. MOST
MODELS ARE SIMILAR AND INDICATE THE BOUNDARY TO OUR NW WILL DRIFT
OUR WAY...EITHER AS A SHEAR LINE OR POSSIBLY A COLD FRONT...AND THE
DISTURBANCE NEAR CHUUK WILL EVENTUALLY PUSH DEEPER MOISTURE OUR WAY.
FOR NOW...CONTINUITY WITH THE PREVIOUS FORECAST IS MAINTAINED...BUT
LATER FORECASTS WILL LIKELY NEED ADJUSTMENTS WHEN THE EXACT TIMING
AND POSSIBLE AFFECTS OF THE DEVELOPING WEATHER PATTERN BECOME MORE
DEFINITIVE.

&&

.MARINE...
WINDS AND WAVES ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY OR
TUESDAY AS THE APPROACHING SHEAR LINE/COLD FRONT DROPS SOUTHEAST
INTO OUR FORECAST ZONES. ONLY MINOR CHANGES WERE MADE TO MARINE
GRIDS AT THIS TIME...BUT SLIGHTLY HIGHER WINDS AND WAVES COULD
MAKE CONDITIONS APPROACH SMALL CRAFT AND HIGH SURF ADVISORY
CRITERIA AT TIMES THIS WEEK.

&&

.EASTERN MICRONESIA...
RELATIVELY DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE FOR POHNPEI AND KOSRAE
THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. A TRADE-WIND DISTURBANCE HAS PUSHED WESTWARD
PAST THE DATE LINE AND IS APPROACHING MAJURO THIS AFTERNOON.
ISOLATED SHOWERS WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE IN COVERAGE AT MAJURO WITH
SCATTERED SHOWERS LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT. THIS FEATURE WILL CONTINUE
TO MOVE WESTWARD...INCREASING CONVECTION AT KOSRAE TUESDAY AND
POHNPEI TUESDAY AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING. EAST OF THE
DISTURBANCE...A TRADE-WIND CONVERGENCE ZONE EXTENDS WESTWARD TO
BEYOND 170W. THIS AREA OF CONVERGENCE WILL PROGRESS WESTWARD ALONG
WITH THE DISTURBANCE. THIS FEATURE WILL PROLONG WET CONDITIONS AT
MAJURO THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND AT KOSRAE AND POHNPEI THROUGH
THURSDAY. THE CONVERGENCE ZONE WILL DRIFT SOUTHWARD IN RESPONSE TO
BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE TO THE NORTH. THIS WILL BRING DRIER
CONDITIONS TO MAJURO WEDNESDAY AND TO POHNPEI AND KOSRAE FRIDAY.

&&

.WESTERN MICRONESIA...
A TRADE-WIND DISTURBANCE NEAR CHUUK IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS
OVER MOST OF THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON. HEAVIEST RAINFALL APPEARS TO
BE OVER THE MORE NORTHERN ISLANDS...HOWEVER HEAVY RAINFALL IS STILL
A POSSIBILITY AT TIMES THIS EVENING FOR WENO ISLAND. AS THE
DISTURBANCE MOVES OUT OF THE REGION MONDAY...CONDITIONS WILL
GRADUALLY CLEAR WITH PARTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS AND ISOLATED SHOWERS
RETURNING TO THE STATE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. THE NEXT DISTURBANCE
THAT IS APPROACHING FROM EASTERN MICRONESIA MAY BRING ANOTHER ROUND
OF SHOWERS TO THE STATE.

TROPICAL DEPRESSION LINGLING IS LINGERING IN THE AREA TO THE WEST OF
PALAU. A NEAR-EQUATORIAL TROUGH EXTENDS EASTWARD FROM THE DEPRESSION
ACROSS PALAU AND SOUTHERN YAP. THIS WILL MAINTAIN MOSTLY CLOUDY
CONDITIONS AND ISOLATED SHOWERS OVER YAP AND KOROR TONIGHT. A SHEAR
LINE TO THE NORTH WILL CONTINUE TO BE PUSHED SOUTHWARD BY A STRONG
HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM BUILDING EASTWARD FROM THE EAST CHINA COAST. AS
THE SHEAR LINE APPROACHES THE REGION...AN INCREASE IN CONVECTION IS
LIKELY AT YAP MONDAY AFTERNOON AND AT KOROR MONDAY NIGHT. AS THE
HIGH PUSHES FURTHER EAST THROUGH THE WEEK...THE SHEAR LINE WILL
LIKELY BEGIN TO RETREAT BACK NORTH AWAY FROM YAP AND PALAU. THIS
WILL ALLOW DRIER CONDITIONS TO MOVE INTO YAP WEDNESDAY AND KOROR
THURSDAY.

&&

.GUM WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
GU...NONE.
MARIANAS WATERS...NONE.
&&

SIMPSON/KLEESCHULTE

Event by event

1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.

Rip Current, Guam

When: January 20, 12:00 AM GST to January 21, 12:00 AM GST
Where: Guam forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Newspaper

On January 20th 2014 Guam Fire Department received a call around 11:48 am. Dwight Artero McKeever and his wife Sandra were about to walk on Ypao Beach in Tumon when they noticed a swimmer in distress. We paused for a minute to look, and we noticed a lady who was flailing her hands in panic said McKeever. Seeing a group of boys skimboarding nearby, McKeever began whistling loudly to get their attention|pointing to the woman behind them. She was about 30 to 40 feet from shore at the time. At the same time Ypao Beach lifeguards saw the woman go under the water and immediately responded. McKeever began running to the woman as the boys swam to her. Hoisting her head out of the water, McKeever began to swim the woman back to shore. the boys carried her legs. Once the woman was brought to shore McKeever, a former certified lifeguard, began to perform CPR on the lady. Lifeguard Robert Miranda says fellow lifeguards Joe Nauta and Stephan April continued to perform CPR and rescue breathing on the woman before she was revived about three minutes later. The woman was breathing on her own when paramedics arrived. Devan Mendiola was one of the young men who help rescue the woman. The woman was 36 years old and is from Korea. | Lifeguard Robert Miranda said I think she was swimming off the shore line but the water conditions with the swell coming in there's strong currents pulling people down to deeper waters, .The lady was in stable condition in the Emergency Room at Guam Memorial hospital as of 5:20pm according to GMH Public Information Officer June Perez.

What these are

Rip Current: A narrow, fast current flowing away from the beach that caused a drowning or rescue.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Guam in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in Guam, January 2014

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 494366.